Samjhana Khanal, a doctoral student studying disease resistance in lettuce, has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the Schlumberger Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports science and technology education.
Meet Clara, Shirley and Estelita. With thickly layered petals, varieties of texture and colors ranging from elegant peach to cactus orange to pastel pink, these zinnias were among the new varieties that debuted at a recent field day on the UC Davis campus.
Two undergraduates in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences – Khushi Chawda and Deysi Alvaro Ceja – have been named to the Borlaug Scholars class of 2024. The National Association of Plant Breeders’ Borlaug scholarships pair students with an NAPB mentor.
Artificial intelligence is already changing how people work, communicate online, create art and manage businesses. Now, the technology is being used in every aspect of our food systems.
Doctoral student Marie Klein’s career is getting bolstered with recognition and connections after being named a 2023 Borlaug Scholar by the National Association of Plant Breeders.
Doctoral student Marie Klein won the competition for best elevator talk describing her research at the recent annual meeting of the Center for Bioenergy Innovation, held in June in Asheville, N.C.
Top plant scientists from across Africa have just completed the first phase of a ground-breaking course in gene editing for crops: It aims to harness a cutting-edge breeding tool to adapt African agriculture to growing populations and the threat of climate change.
“The talent’s there. We just need to enable it,” said Allen Van Deynze, of the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. “We’re enabling it with training, with tools and with support for their labs. That’s part of our program.”
Plant pathologist Paul G. Smith, the founder of pepper genetics and a former professor at the University of California, Davis, was recognized posthumously for a lifetime of contributions that continue to shape plant sciences today.
Smith died on Jan. 23, 2006. He was a professor in the former Department of Vegetable Crops, one of four departments that merged to become the current Department of Plant Sciences. His contributions were recognized at the 25th International Pepper Conference in Tucson, Ariz., in December 2022.
Gail Taylor and her team at the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences are looking for the genetic keys to making America’s favorite leafy green stay fresher, longer, in the fridge.
Taylor and members of the Taylor Lab have found regions on the lettuce genome related to the tiny details of how lettuce leaves are built – structure that can make a leaf more or less hospitable to bacteria. They’ve also found genetic regions related to the plant’s ability to resist bacteria from getting in at all.
The University of California’s first Industrial Hemp Field Day presented work by the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences to help farmers manage common problems and improve their yields. Researchers discussed their latest findings to better manage hemp production, touching on diseases, weeds, insects, pesticide resistance, biological controls and regulatory processes. Field demonstrations included ongoing trials on nitrogen and water use.
An estimated 80 to 100 growers turned out for the Sept. 22 event, showing the demand for scientific guidance for legal hemp cultivation.
